A survey of the seafloor near BP’s blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico has turned up dead and dying coral reefs that were probably damaged by the oil spill, scientists said Friday.

The coral sites lie seven miles southwest of the well, at a depth of about 4,500 feet, in an area where large plumes of dispersed oil were discovered drifting through the deep ocean last spring in the weeks after the spill.

The large areas of darkened coral and other damaged marine organisms were almost certainly dying from exposure to toxic substances, scientists said.

The corals were discovered on Tuesday by scientists aboard a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel using a submersible robot equipped with cameras and sampling tools.

Webmaster's Commentary:

If the coral is dying here, how in the sam hill can the fish caught from this region possibly be safe to eat?!?

Remember, this is the same NOAA which was conducting "sniffing tests" to allegedly determine if seafood was safe, as reported on 13 July 2010, as follows:

http://www.seafood.nmfs.noaa.gov/LA_times.com_7.2010.pdf

"Each day, his team of seven sensory experts dip their noses
into large Pyrex bowls of snapper, tuna and other raw seafood
to test for even a whiff of the pungent oil gushing into the Gulf
of Mexico.

"We use specific terms for the aroma," said Downs, who
supervises the seafood smellers at the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's marine lab here. "Diesel oil.
Bunker oil. Asphalt. Rubber-band-like. Tar."
Each olfactory analyst has a super schnoz, able to smell oil
diluted to one part per million. That's 40 times more sensitive
than your average proboscis."

One has to wonder if a more truly scientific analysis would have shown, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the fish was fouled from both the oi, and the toxic dispersant BP used.